The effect of intermediate principal stress on compressive strength of different cement content of cement-stabilized macadam and different gradation of AC-13 mixture

Abstract

Since the effect of intermediate principal stress on the strength of pavement materials is not entirely clear so far, a proprietary true triaxial apparatus was developed to simulate the spatial status of principal stresses to conduct compressive strength tests on different gradations of AC-13, different cement contents of cement-stabilized macadam. With the same minimum principal stress, the triaxial compressive strengths of cube specimens under different intermediate principal stresses were compared. The results indicate that, as the intermediate principal stress increases, the compressive strength of the specimen increases and then decreases; different gradations of AC-13 do not show much difference in triaxial compressive strength while different cement contents of cement-stabilized macadam indicate considerable difference. Analysis results suggest significant effect of intermediate principal stress on the compressive strength of pavement materials: for AC-13, the coarser the gradation, the greater the effect of intermediate principal strength on its strength; for cement-stabilized Macadam, the higher the cement content, the greater the effect of intermediate principal stress. Strength model analysis results suggest that Double-Shear-Corner Model is more suitable to characterize cement-stabilized macadam's strength performance compared to the Mohr-Coulomb model and Double-Shear Model.